BlumatDrip Irrigation System - Tropf Patio and Deck Starter Kit - Automatic Plant Watering Devices - Easy Setup Self Watering System for Indoor - Prevents Overwatering

Blumats are amazing devices and work amazing when installed correctly!! Make sure all tubing are connected before you install them into the soil, otherwise you can get soil into the tubing like I did, and end up with a lot of water on the floor :-)I have a couple of suggestions regarding the reservoir that Ive learned from research and experience. Make sure the feed tubing is connected to the reservoir in a full loop because it leads to more even watering across all five, or more, Blumats. The company sells a great five gallon black bucket with both feed line fittings included. Also, Even though I have an opaque reservoir bucket, I use a small airstone and add Hydroguard to keep the water fresh by preventing algae and other nasties from growing in there. I’m an organic soil gardener and the Hydroguard is perfect - it also helps prevent algae and root rot problems as well.If you’re buying this for smaller house plant pots, I’ve found that what’s included will work very well.If you’re using larger pots (3gal plus) and multiple plants I’d suggest you buy flexible feed tubing and extension kit with drip emitters.The tubing that comes with this is very stiff and quickly became hard to work with and caused twisting that cut off water from a couple Blumats until I noticed.Also, each blumat in this kit comes with a single drip emitter. I found that each blumat can provide water to four drip emitters, setup with each approx 4” apart gives you a more even watering around the pot.I’ve attached a few pictures, showing my set up, which works flawlessly! If you notice, I’m using flexible orange tubing instead of the rigid black tubing, and I’ve connected my feet tubing in a loop as well. In the second picture, you’ll see that in each 5 gallon pot I’m using two Blumats each with four drip emitters and I get very even moisture.

The blumat system works great, allows me to go on vacation whenever I want without loosing my plants

I bought this introductory kit to test out the Blumat system and I am thoroughly impressed. I tested it out for a week before I had to be away from my garden. I tested it on one plant and no tweaks were ever needed. I simply followed the instructions and it was set up perfectly. I can remotely monitor my garden when I'm away and the leaves on my plant were "praying" the entire time I was away.I will probably just continue to use this going forward since the roots (and my plant) are always happy. It uses less water than regular watering too so there are some efficiency gains with this system. I have since ordered more hoses, connections, etc. from Blumat so I can expand this system to the rest of my garden.Note: I would recommend checking out YouTube videos from Sustainable Village as they offer some very good tips for installation and ensuring a reliable set up. This is a versatile system with all the different products and accessories they offer. Those videos really help shed light on everything Blumat can do.Update January 2024: I have ordered several more Blumat products since getting this kit and I really can't speak highly enough about their stuff. Literally everything I have ordered from them is just quality. It makes me think of Sony or something (you ever see a bad Sony piece of gear?). Anyway, their stuff is all legit in my opinion and I am just very happy I found these folks and I want to spread the word. Cheers!

Had I not seen a video explaining that perlite, or large chunks of perlite can cause air gaps and runaways I would not have known what was going on. I have a 50 mix of perlite so now I will pull them out and place sphagnum with no perlite ate the sensors of my one gallon pots and that should take care of some issues. I think its a great ideal but I wouldn't throw them in you pots and leave until you know you have it dialed it in. I took one star off for that and the fact it came with no shut off valve. You are going to want to turn it off if it over waters like I did. I left for three days and they were drooping for having dried out, I turned it back on and with dry soil like that it just ran out my fabric pots. 2 weeks of tweeking on the first try then learned about the perlite issue. After my plants are perky again it will probably take another 2 weeks before I know it works with my soil. I have also been running them with an air bubble in them. Definitly pack that dirt around the carrot. They worked fine with autos in 5 gallon with 3 drippers and I have 10 gallon pots with 5 drippers oriented to keep the outside 2 inches of soil moist in fabric pots. With the dripper 3 inches away on two sides of the carrot so it shuts off quiker.

Bought these for an indoor garden. It worked well and I bought several more components to complete my setup. I use several additives and a fertilizer and I have no clogging issues at all. My plants are the happiest and healthiest they have ever been. I bought the small set to test them out. I like them so much I'm purchasing about $25,000 worth of them for my commercial horticulture operation. I anticipate significant labor savings and better production from my plants.A couple of tips: * Once a day I flush the lines. You can buy valves and quick disconnects but the simplest and cheapest method requires no extra parts. Use a Tee that branches from the 8mm feeder line to the 3mm sprinkler line. Add a 5" piece of the 3mm line but do not hook up the sprinkler. Cut a 3/4" piece of the 8mm line. Bend the 3mm line and tuck it into the 8mm piece, that stops the flow. When you want to flush, just pull the 3/4" piece off, flush, then replace.* I use a gravity feed and when I let the buckets run dry, air or something gets into the system and I have to flush to get everything working well again. Since adding flush points is so easy, I added one at the first plant, the middle plant and the last plant. I have 20 plants on a line.* I upgraded and purchased the super flex 8mm tubing. It is not necessary but it is much easier to work with.